The three associations of officers of the IAS (Indian Administrative Service), DANICS (Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands Civil Service) and DSSS (Delhi Subordinate Services Selection Board) passed a resolution at a meeting on Tuesday, saying that they would, however, maintain written communications with Aam Aadmi Party ministers to ensure there was no disruption in public service delivery.

“All the three associations have decided to boycott meetings called by all Delhi ministers in protest against the attack on the chief secretary by MLAs at the CM’s residence,” said divisional commissioner Manisha Saxena, who is the general secretary of the IAS officers’ association.

Members of the three bodies also took out a candlelight march to Rajghat on Tuesday to protest against the incident.

The resolution passed by the officers’ bodies said that since public interest was of paramount importance, and to ensure there was no disruption in public service delivery, the three associations would maintain formal written communication with the political executive, till the chief minister apologised for the Monday night attack.

The bodies alleged the “abhorrent” incident had resulted in a “serious breach of trust”, and “shaken the faith” of the bureaucracy in the present political executive of the Delhi government.

Chief secretary Prakash alleged on Tuesday he was assaulted by some AAP MLAs in front of Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia at the chief minister’s residence a day before.

In his complaint to the police, Prakash said the attack on him was “premeditated” and a “conspiracy” of all those who were present at a meeting late on Monday night at Kejriwal’s residence. The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan and others on Prakash’s complaint.

The Aam Aadmi Party launched a counter-attack, denying the incident and accusing Prakash of working at the “behest of the BJP”.Some AAP MLAs Prakash Jarwal and Ajay Dutt claimed Prakash had made casteist remarks and lodged a complaint against him with the Delhi Police and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jarwal said.

Delhi minister Imran Hussain also said he was mobbed by government staff when he was waiting for an elevator at the Delhi Secretariat on Tuesday morning.

SAINT PETERSBURG: A
homemade bomb blast at a supermarket in the Russian city of Saint Petersburg injured 10 people Wednesday, officials said, sparking a
probe into attempted murder.

"According to preliminary information, an explosion of
an unidentified object occurred in a store," a spokeswoman for Russia's Investigative
Committee, Svetlana Petrenko, said in a statement.

The blast was caused by a "homemade explosive device
with the power equivalent to 200 grammes of TNT filled with lethal
fragments," she said.

"The investigation is looking at all possible causes of
what happened," she said, adding that a probe for attempted murder had
been launched.

The incident comes several months after Russia's second city
was rocked with a metro bombing in April which killed 16 people and amid
concern that hundreds of Russian citizens who travelled to fight alongside
jihadists groups abroad could pose a mounting security challenge back home.

Rattled by a one-two
punch of betrayal and scandal, Donald Trump on Thursday tried to block the
publication of a bare-knuckle book that portrays his White House as a fetid
stew of backbiting, incompetence and dysfunction. The publishers
responded by moving the release date up by four days to Friday. Trump instructed his
lawyers to prevent the release of “Fire and Fury: Inside
the Trump White House” -- an expose by author and political muckraker Michael
Wolff -- which quotes key Trump aides expressing serious doubt
about his fitness for office. The book -- which
paints Trump as mentally unstable and far out of his depth -- quotes at length
his former ally and chief strategist Steve Bannon, who also received a “cease and
desist” order from Trump’s attorneys. “Your publication of
the false/baseless statements about Mr. Trump gives rise to, among other
claims, defamation by libel, defamation by libel per se, false light invasion
of privacy, tortious interference with contractual relations, an…